The Vital Importance of Professionalism
“Professionalism is environmental. Amateurism is anti environmental. Professionalism merges the individual into patterns of total environment. Amateurism seeks the development of the total awareness of the individual and the critical awareness of the ground rules of society. The amateur can afford to loose.”
–Marshall McLuhan
Today’s discussion comes straight a reader suggestion for an article about professionalism. He wrote:
I’ll leave some suggestions for future topics:
- The importance of being professional in theatre, even if it’s not professional theatre (i.e. being responsible, polite, courteous, etc)
-Camel
So this post goes out to Camel for his excellent suggestion.
There is one key difference between the actor from America and the actor from England and it isn’t their training. There is a school of thought that many people subscribe to that says English actors are more talented than American actors. After Helen Mirren’s win at the Oscars and the list of Best Actress Nominees, it’s hard to argue. When we’re staring down the barrel of Sir Ian McKellen, Dame Judi Dench, Jeremy Irons and Emma Thompson, it’s easy to feel out-gunned. So what’s the difference between American actors and British? Do we simply lack the training? Or is there something about coming from the land of Shakespeare that gives them a leg up?
It isn’t training, and it isn’t geography, it isn’t even talent. There is one big difference between the English and the American; their view of the job. In America, Hollywood has created a dream-factory for young actors. It seems so glamorous and easy to be an actor that it has become only a stepping stone to fame and decadence. In England it’s a job and the difference is all the difference. English actors view what they do as a job, a career, something to be taken seriously.
As an actor myself, I’ve always shared their sentiment. Acting has become merely a vehicle for glory and is moving away from the human passion that created it. The actor who views his craft as a means of becoming revered is an amateur. The actor who views his craft as a career to be ever improved upon is a professional.
In theatre, being a professional means more than getting paid for your work and printing up business cards. Professionalism is showing up early and going home late. The difference between an amateur actor and a professional actor isn’t whether or not they are getting paid to do their job; it’s whether or not they are doing their job for the greater good.
Being “professional” holds more weight in theatre than many other careers because, trust me when I say, that your entire career can rest on one slip of your professionalism. Show business is a business of talk and everyone talks to everyone else. If you’re constantly late, don’t know your lines and are not doing what is asked of you, other directors and casting agents will find out about it and you will find it hard to get work.
So how can we strive to be professionals when we walk through the stage door? It’s easier than you think.
1. Arrive Early, Leave Late – A good general rule is to be thirty minutes early to your call. If you’re told to be there by six o’clock, be there by five-thirty. I generally show up before that, but I’m weird like that. Before you walk out of rehearsal every night you should make it a point to say good night to everyone and ask whether or not there is anything you can do before you go. Every night, without fail, make sure there is nothing else needed of you before you hit the door for home.
2. Barring Union Rules, Always Help – There is nothing in the world of theatre that is beneath you and unless there is a Union rule forbidding it, offer your services to anyone. Stay behind after the show to help pick up programs in the house. Offer to help lock up. Unless Equity to IATSE say you’re not allowed, always do more than is asked of you.
3. Rid Yourself of Distractions – Turn your cell phone off. Not on vibrate. Off. It’s a distraction otherwise. If there’s an emergency and you’re expecting a call, inform the director and stage manager and give your phone to the stage manager to answer for you. Do everything in your power to leave the outside world at the door. Distractions aren’t only detrimental to you.
4. Keep Your Space Clean – Your section of the dressing room should be spic and span. All of your make up and personal items should be kept on the towel that marks your section of counter top. The only food item in the dressing room should be water and it should be in a plastic bottle with a screw top. Nothing else. Make sure that all of your clothing and baggage is out of the way and not in danger of tripping others.
5. Be Kind and Considerate – If you’re argumentative and irritable outside of the theatre, turn it off when you step through the door. Every word you utter in the theatre should be positive and soft spoken. Never complain, argue or back-talk. It will come back to bite you in the end, I guarantee it. Throw your tantrum when you get home and are out of ear-shot. Never say anything negative or derogatory in front of another actor or crew member.
The golden rule is: Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You. Let common courtesy rule and you’ll have a fruitful career ahead of you. Always strive for professionalism on the stage or behind the lens because trust me when I tell you that this is a job. Acting is a vocation that has existed for millennia. Acting is at the most basic instincts of man and has been practiced since we first descended from the trees. Theatre isn’t a hobby, it’s a lifestyle.
Treat it with respect, it was here long before you and it will be here long after.
Sin Boldly!
Filed Under Articles, Survival, Career
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I have to agree about the differences between English and American acting. I think that there is a deeper ideological difference as well that stems from the way acting is taught in the UK versus the US. In England acting is viewed first as a craft with many nuts & bolts aspects to be mastered. In the US many view acting as an emotional exercise and put the technical aspects second.
As far as professionalism goes, that’s good advice for anyone in any profession that wants to be taken seriously and that wants to succeed.
Great advice.
I think you’re exactly right about the difference in teaching. But it begs an interesting question: Which of those two methods do you think is the best approach to acting?
-Daniel R